Today, M83 — aka Anthony Gonzalez — has announced that he will be releasing his upcoming new album, Fantasy, on March 17th, 2023 via Mute. Pre-orders for the new album can be found here.
Fantasy is set to be Gonzalez’s most personal album to date, and makes the ninth studio album released under the M83 moniker. The album is sonically expansive yet tender intimate, as he created an alternate world serving as an escape from the disconnected world that we live in today.
Additionally, M83 have shared the album’s first single, “Oceans Niagra.” The single comes alongside a music video directed by long-time creative collaborator, filmmaker (Knife + Heart, You And The Night) and brother Yann Gonzalez.
Commenting on the track/video, Gonzalez offers: “Very proud to present the first track of my new album ‘Fantasy’. It’s called ‘Oceans Niagara’ and it’s the very first collaboration between my brother Yann Gonzalez and myself on a music video. I wanted to create this sense of friendship. Listening to that song, I imagine people running, driving fast, or riding spaceships together. It’s this sense of going forward, like a magic potion that you take to discover new worlds. Beyond Adventure!”
Video director Yann Gonzalez adds: “‘Oceans Niagara’ is the perfect synthesis of M83’s music: a wall of sound and emotions that goes crescendo until it climaxes, with moments of pure melodic ecstasy that personally make me feel like I’m floating, loving and crying all at once, almost like being a teenager again. This is the first time I’m directing a music video for Anthony and this was a great chance for us to share our common references and emotions from our own childhood and teenage years with hints of our favorite French-Japanese animes, horror films and kid’s strange TV shows from the ‘80s and ‘90s.”
For Gonzalez, Fantasy‘s direction and aesthetic was immediately clear. “I wanted this record to be very impactful live,” he says. “The idea was to come back with something closer to the energy of ‘Before The Dawn Heals Us.’ The combination of guitars and synths is always in my music, but it’s maybe more present on this new record than on the previous ones.”
Reserved in nature, Gonzalez also sought to continue a trend that has become more prominent in his recent albums. “I wanted to be more present lyrically and vocally even if that was daunting at first,” he states. “I thought if I could achieve that, this album will be more personal than those that came before.”
Artwork:
Track-listing:
- Water Deep
- Oceans Niagara
- Amnesia
- Us And The Rest
- Earth To Sea
- Radar, Far, Gone
- Deceiver
- Fantasy
- Laura
- Sunny Boy
- Kool Nuit
- Sunny Boy Part 2
- Dismemberment Bureau
Tour dates:
4/10/2023 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren
4/11/2023 – Albuquerque, NM – El Rey Theater
4/13/2023 – San Antonio, TX – The Aztec Theatre
4/14/2023 – Austin, TX – Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater
4/15/2023 – Houston, TX – The Lawn at White Oak Music Hall
4/16/2023 – Dallas, TX – House Of Blues
4/18/2023 – Nashville, TN – Marathon Music Works
4/19/2023 – Atlanta, GA – The Eastern
4/21/2023 – Philadelphia, PA – Franklin Music Hall
4/22/2023 – Washington, DC – The Anthem
4/23/2023 – Boston, MA – Roadrunner
4/25/2023 – New York, NY – Terminal 5
4/28/2023 – Montreal, QC – MTELUS
4/29/2023 – Toronto, ON – HISTORY
4/30/2023 – Royal Oak, MI – Royal Oak Music Theatre
5/2/2023 – Chicago, IL – Riviera Theatre
5/3/2023 – St. Paul, MN – Palace Theatre
5/5/2023 – Denver, CO – Mission Ballroom
5/6/2023 – Salt Lake City, UT – Ogden Amphitheater
5/8/2023 – Portland, OR – Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
5/9/2023 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom
5/10/2023 – Seattle, WA – Showbox SoDo
5/14/2023 – Paso Robles, CA – Vina Robles Amphitheatre
5/16/2023 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theater
